Healio (12/12, Gramigna) reports investigators “have identified eight psychiatric disorders that share a common genetic structure.” For the study, researchers “used genome-wide association analyses of 232,964 individuals diagnosed with one of eight psychiatric disorders – anorexia nervosa,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “autism spectrum disorder [ASD], bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome,” and then “also analyzed genetic data of 494,162 healthy controls.” The study revealed “shared variants” that “allowed the researchers to classify conditions into three groups by their related genetics – those characterized by compulsive behaviors, including anorexia nervosa, OCD and, to a lesser extent, Tourette syndrome; mood and psychotic disorders including bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia; and early-onset neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD,” AD/HD “and Tourette syndrome.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 in the journal Cell.

Related Links:

— “ADHD, autism and 6 psychiatric disorders share common genetic structure, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 12, 2019

The Wall Street Journal (12/12, Tracy, Subscription Publication) reports that the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday okayed a proposal to create a 988 hotline for suicide prevention and mental health crises. The three-digit number is designed to replace the existing number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The AP (12/12, Anderson) reports the action “comes as suicide rates have increased across the U.S. over the past two decades, and dramatically so – by more than 30% – in half of U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The shorter number “would likely lead to more calls, which in turn would mean more expenses for crisis centers already struggling to keep up.” If the “number of calls to the hotline doubled, centers would need an extra $50 million a year to handle the increase, the FCC said, citing the federal agency that funds the hotline, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.”

Axios (12/12, McGill) reports that the bipartisan legislation, introduced by Cory Gardner (R-CO), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Jack Reed (D-RI), “would also require the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to come up with a strategy to connect young LGBTQ hotline callers to specialized services.”

Related Links:

— “FCC Approves Making ‘988’ a National Suicide-Prevention Hotline Number
, “Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2019

Psychiatric News (12/11) reports, “Youth who are taking antidepressants in the class of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are more likely to experience side effects that cause them to discontinue the medication than those taking serotonin-norepinephrine inhibitors (SNRIs),” researchers concluded after analyzing “data on adverse reactions to SSRIs and SNRIs in 18 studies involving more than 2,600 children and teenagers under the age of 18 treated for anxiety or OCD.” The study also revealed that SSRIs “appear to be more commonly associated with ‘activation syndrome’ – a cluster of symptoms including restlessness, anxiety, and agitation.” The findings of the Bayesian hierarchical modeling meta-analysis were published online Nov. 1 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “SNRIs May Be More Tolerable Than SSRIs for Some Youth With Anxiety, OCD, Psychiatric News, December 11, 2019

MedPage Today (12/11, Hlavinka) reports researchers observed “modest declines in cognition…among patients with psychotic disorders in the 20 years after their first hospitalization.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Slight 20-Year Cognitive Decline in Patients With Psychotic Disorders, “Elizabeth Hlavinka, MedPage Today, December 11, 2019

Medscape (12/10, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Staff at psychiatric hospitals are frequently exposed to violence and physical threats that often lead to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” investigators concluded after surveying “761 staff (69% female) at three psychiatric hospitals in Canada.” The findings were published online Dec. 4 in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “High Rates of PTSD Plague Psychiatric Hospital Staff, “Megan Brooks, Medscape, December 10, 2019

Courier (12/10, Vakil) reported, “Americans seeking mental healthcare treatment turn to out-of-network” clinicians “at far higher rates than when seeking medical care, according to a recently updated studycommissioned by the Mental Health Treatment and Research Institute LLC.” In the study, which “analyzed 2016 and 2017 claims data from all 50 states and hundreds of preferred provider organization (PPO) health plans that insure 37 million people,” investigators “found that patients are more than five times as likely to go out of network when seeking care at behavioral inpatient or outpatient facilities, compared to medical or surgical inpatient or outpatient facilities.” Bruce Schwartz, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association, stated, “People who have paid for their healthcare coverage aren’t able to get behavioral health services within the networks that the insurance companies are offering.” Dr. Schwartz also stated, “I think the reason why many psychiatrists have ceased to participate with these insurance companies is that insurance companies, via their payments rates, have essentially been rationing health care,” and “this discrimination pushes psychiatrists out of the network, Schwartz said.”

Related Links:

— “Even with insurance, Americans can’t find mental health providers, “Keya Vakil, Courier , December 10, 2019

Psychiatric News (12/10) reports, “Individuals over age 60 with schizophrenia who were prescribed long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics after being discharged from a hospital were significantly less likely to be rehospitalized within a year than those receiving oral antipsychotics,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data on 1,168 patients over age 60 with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were discharged between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2017.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the January issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Older Schizophrenia Patients Found Less Likely to Be Rehospitalized With LAI Antipsychotics, Psychiatric News, December 10, 2019

HealthDay (12/10) reports, “Bullied teens are more likely to develop mental health problems, and people with mental health problems are also more likely to become bullies, researchers report.” According to the study, “youth who said they’d been bullies were more likely to have a moderate to high rate of mental health problems than those who said they hadn’t bullied others,” and “that teens with moderate to high rates of mental health problems were more likely to bully others, compared to those without such issues.” The studywas published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “Bullying’s ‘Vicious Circle’ Harms Mental Health, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 10, 2019

The New York Times (12/10, Underwood) “Parenting” blog reports that “one in nine children has an underlying clinical disorder that can be tied to particularly severe tantrums,” research indicates. According to the Times, “atypical or severe tantrums, which are often marked by extreme aggression, high frequency, suddenness and specific triggers, are often the first (and easiest to recognize) sign of a behavioral, mood or anxiety disorder.” The piece adds, “Note that the American Psychiatric Association only permits diagnosis of mood disorders at age six or older, though it can be helpful to learn early on if your child is demonstrating traits consistent with these disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Are My Kid’s Tantrums Abnormal?, “Paul L. Underwood, The New York Times, December 10, 2019

In a nearly 4,100-word piece, The Atlantic (12/9, Tullis) reports how in jails across the US, “people who should be placed in mental-health facilities for treatment are instead detained…for unconstitutionally long periods – sometimes months – before they have been convicted or even tried for any crime.” For example, “in Texas in 2018, the average period that people with mental illness not convicted of any crime were held in jail was 229 days, according to reporting by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.” In many cases, “their condition deteriorates further as they are held in facilities unable to care for them.”

Related Links:

— “When Mental Illness Becomes a Jail Sentence, “Paul Tullis, The Atlantic, December 9, 2019